Shifting

It's April and that means a full month has gone by at my new job. I have to say a lot has transpired within that time. I panicked and worked at a stressed pace the first three weeks and then started to get my bearings. Also for some reason I thought I had to go slower in the book, but it turns out I should have been going faster.

That brings me to today where I realized that since I need to cover about four pages per class that there will be little time for extra activities and games. One way you can look at this is that the children will miss out on having a good time, but you can also see it as I don't have to spend so much time planning. Before I was trying to find key points to address about the math they were learning and bring it to them in a way that developed their English. Now I see I will just try to make sure they are speaking and creating the Math-English while we work in the book. I am sure I can squeeze in a fun game or craft somewhere amongst that.

Because of this realization I have come to see my job as somewhat lighter than I though it was going to be. Don't get me wrong, I still have six classes twice a week which does drain me. I feel, though, that I really can do this and that I probably should just have controlled-fun with the kids and not worry so much.

I am feeling optimistic today but underneath this still a little nervous that there will be those "bad days" ahead where the kids are wild.

In other news, Tom seems to be getting more plump and filled out. I need to get him over to the Vet for a check up, though. I also need to stock up on wet food since today he stared me down begging me for some. I was tough at first and didn't give him any, but then as I saw he started to forget about it I let him have his treat. I can see he likes to have it every other day or 3 times a week.

With things shifting and settling down I feel myself getting back into my "Korean life" routine. Things like, "study Korean" and "go to the gym" keep echoing in my mind. Really what I want to do is create some art when I get home or go out for a walk.  Spring is so wonderful~!